The Run Away Strategy

Aldy sat on a sofa chair in the old building behind his school. Slowly, he exhaled the nicotine smoke that soothed every twitch of his head from his airways.

A song called Lily by Alan Walker crossed his mind. While puffing the cigarette smoke into the air, Aldy hummed a little, singing a few verses from the song which he happened to memorize.

"Lily was a little girl, afraid of the big-bad world. She grew up within her castle wall ... "

For some reason, he thought back to Maureen. Lily's character in Alan Walker's song seems to have a similar fate to Maureen. The difference is, Lilly is trapped in the castle, while Maureen has trapped in her own consciousness thanks to the coma she suffers.

Aldy cracked a little smile from his lips. "Maureen was a little girl, afraid of the big-bad world. She grew up within her mind and soul ..."

Aldy changed some of the song's lyrics according to his wishes. According to him, it rhymes enough. "Follow everywhere I go, to the top of mountain and--"

Aldy's fantasy of changing the lyrics of other people's songs was broken when his cell phone rang. The ringing of the cellphone that broke the silence was not well received by Aldy. He checked his phone screen, and there was Edwin's name on it.

Aldy picked up the call from Edwin.

Edwin's coughing voice sounded quite painful to Aldy's ears. "I'm sorry ... I lost."

"Okay," Aldy replied briefly. It seems that Edwin failed to deal with Sentosa Vocational School, which hired thugs to attack Caius Ballad High School, where Aldy currently attends school. And right after Aldy hung up the call from Edwin, another call came in, and this time, it was from Marsel.

Aldy picked it up without saying anything. The sound of Marsel's breathing, which seemed to be panting, could make Aldy guess what his best friend would say. "Dy ... I ... I lost."

"Okay," replied Aldy, who then also ended the call with Marsel.

Now Aldy is silent. Slowly bring the nicotine stick sandwiched between his middle and index fingers closer to his lips to take a sip. The sip of pleasure smoke could make Aldy feel calm.

Two problems arise at once.

First, he has to face Sentosa Vocational High School who hired thugs to attack his school.

Second, he had to deal with '42' National Highschool, which Marsel failed to beat. Maybe if it was someone else, would choose to admit defeat this time and will avenge it someday with better preparation.

But Aldy is not someone else. Aldy is Aldy, a person who will never admit defeat while he can still breathe and fight, even though his life is on the last breath he has.

Aldy tossed down his nearly finished cigarette, exhaled once again the nicotine smoke through his airways into the air, and stood up from his couch.

He walked over to get a stick made of iron. To be precise, a crowbar not far from where he was and walking out of an old building covered in streaks of aerosol paint on the walls.

Facing two forces at once, no one knows if Aldy can win this battle alone.

Of course, facing them all alone was impossible.

It might be impossible for Aldy under normal conditions.

While walking and holding a crowbar in his right hand, Aldy stared blankly ahead. In his mind, Aldy kept apologizing to everyone who had cared for him.

In his mind, Aldy apologized to Heri, a man who had adopted him and has also now become a father to him.

And Aldy also apologized to Maureen, the younger sister who is still lying in a coma in the hospital.

In fact, Aldy apologized to his late parents.

He really apologized.

Because now, Aldy released the fighting desire that he had been hiding for so long. An extremely dark and bloodthirsty fighting desire. The desire to fight that even the officers of the prison he used to live in were afraid of him.

Aldy re-imagined all the things he had experienced during his life. All the grudges that have been embedded in his heart, now Aldy will not hold it anymore.

Just for now. The moment where all the efforts he has put in to create a safe school environment for his younger sister will be at stake in this one battle.

In other words, this was a suicide battle.

And imagine that this battle was a suicide battle made Aldy smile even more.

And right now, Aldy has seen Sentosa Vocational School along with the thugs they hired standing at the edge of Aldy's eyesight.

Aldy continued his footsteps, walking towards them. And when Aldy was getting closer, they realized Aldy's existence.

Ally stopped, not because there was doubt in his heart.

From the alley to the right of where he stood, Aldy could see the group of 42 high school students who had beaten Marsel walking towards him.

Aldy was silent in the middle, where Sentosa Vocational School was complete with the thugs they hired, plus '42' National Highschool, which was rumored to be a school gang that controlled their own regional area. Everyone slowly approached Aldy.

Aldy was silent.

In such a cornered state, the smile on his lips grew even wide.

***

"Where are your men?" asked a '42' National Highschool student. Aldy didn't answer.

The Sentosa Vocational High School students looked at the group of 42 High School students. They realized it seemed that the 42 High School gang also wanted to attack Caius Ballad High School on the same day they wanted to attack.

They all smile. It looks like today will be the day the Caius Ballad will fall.

One of the 42 high school students walked closer to Aldy. "So you're the leader? Why did you come alone? Want to die?"

Stabbb!~ ...

Without the slightest warning, no one expected that the first step Aldy took was to stab the tip of the crowbar in his right hand right into the left thigh of the 42 National Highschool student who was approaching him.

Very brutal. Aldy pulled out the crowbar, turned around, and threw it at the Sentosa Vocational High School gang. The crowbar that Aldy threw was embedded in the right shoulder of a thug they hired to help attack Caius Ballad.

Without saying a word, everyone who was there already understood what Aldy's actions meant.

Aldy, as the only representative of SMAS Caius Ballad, wants to face them all.

Alone.

"You fucking dog! It hurts! Mommy!" thrashed the man whose left thigh couldn't stop bleeding because of the crowbar that Aldy had stabbed him earlier. He screamed as he knelt, clutching his thigh.

Duakkkk!~ ...

Aldy landed a kick that hit the head of the person who was crying while kneeling in front of him. Instantly the man lost consciousness. After that, Aldy looked sharply at the group of Sentosa Vocational High School and 42 National High School. He smiled, and a few seconds later ...

Aldy turned and ran as fast as he could.

Everyone opened their eyes wide. "Hey, don't run away, you bastard!"

Now a total of thirty-six people are trying to catch up with Aldy.

Coward?

No. Aldy didn't run away. There is no 'run away' word in the dictionary of a Rizaldy Pradipta. All Aldy did was think about how he could overthrow them all one by one. Facing them head-on is, of course, the most stupid of all the stupid choices available.

Aldy turned and entered a small alley. Really narrow alley. Thanks to the layout of the settlement, which is quite dense, small alleys like this will be very useful. When viewed from the air, it will look like a maze. Lots of narrow alleys near each other.

Several people who chased Aldy in the closest position continued to follow where Aldy ran.

They could see at the end of the alley, Aldy was turning to the right. And just as they were turning too, unexpectedly, a hard kick landed on the front man's chest. He fell and tripped several people running behind him. With the condition that he was not ready to receive a kick, plus his body being trampled by several people from behind him, it was clear that that person would no longer be able to chase Aldy.

Aldy quickly launched an attack on the next three people. In a short time, they too fell. "I guess that's enough for now," said Aldy, mumbling.

Aldy was back to continue running.

In the first attempt, he managed to overthrow four people in an instant.

Not too bad.

And thanks to the narrow alleys that branch in this settlement, it's easier for Aldy's plan to overthrow them one by one.

It continues. Aldy continued to surprise those closest to him at the corner of the narrow alley. Every turn, Aldy can overthrow three to four people. And after six attempts, a total of twenty-one people had fallen. There were still sixteen people left.

Aldy's experiment failed when he wanted to do the same thing for the seventh time. They could anticipate Aldy's surprise attack. It almost got Aldy caught.

"I guess I can't use that method anymore. Think, Aldy ... Think ... Oh yeah."

Aldy's gaze was fixed on an unfinished building project. It looks like it's a sub-district office building that just finished building its foundation. The building was the perfect place to continue the battle.

Without thinking, Aldy climbed up the guardrail of the building and ran inside. Of course, the remaining sixteen people who were chasing him also climbed the fence and followed Aldy's footsteps.

Someone ran right behind Aldy. Not because Aldy was starting to run out of strength to run, but he deliberately slowed down his steps. Thanks to the unfinished building, there are lots of building materials that Aldy can use to fight.

For example, the brick he just picked up.

When that person grabbed Aldy's collar from behind, Aldy immediately turned around, jumped, and slammed the brick right on the forehead of the person who was pulling the collar of his uniform.

Duakkk!~ ...

The brick split instantly into several pieces, followed by a stream of blood pouring out from the forehead of the person he hit.

The person lay on the ground instantly.

Aldy took the brick pieces back. He chose the largest among the other pieces.

Another person approached. Aldy landed a kick in the man's stomach, making him bow down. And at that very moment, Aldy smashed a piece of brick into the person's head.

Two people fell, fourteen left.

Aldy smiled and turned around, continuing his run.

The building that had a total of three-level floors was really in Aldy's favor. On the first floor, he managed to overthrow two people. On the second floor, five people. Three people collapsed, and two people were thrown from the second floor to the outside of the building.

The rest of the people chasing him were still too many. There are eleven people. However, compared to the initial number of thirty-six people, this was already less than one per three.

Aldy stopped in his runs. Now he was standing right at the end of the top floor of the unfinished building. He turned around and found the remaining eleven people chasing him, trying to catch their breath, gasping for air.

Pursuing Aldy is indeed a very tiring thing.

Their expressions looked happy because from what they could see, it was Aldy who had been cornered and couldn't run anywhere anymore.

However, the happy expression faded as soon as he saw Aldy's reply.

Aldy, who should have been in the corner, instead showed an expression as if it was not the eleven people who cornered him. But he who cornered the eleven.

Aldy smiled widely, and his eyes looked very sharp.

It means that the real battle is about to take place.